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Some people believe that decentralization is the inevitable future of the web. They believe that internet users will start to demand more privacy and authenticity of information online, and that they’ll look to decentralized platforms to get those things. But would decentralization be as utopian as advocates say it could be?

Host Manoush Zomorodi speaks to Eugen Rochko of Mastodon, an ad-free alternative to Twitter; Justin Hunter of Graphite docs, a decentralized alternative to GoogleDocs; Maria Bustillos who hopes to help eliminate fake news online through the Blockchain; David Irvine, the co-founder of MaidSafe who plans to make the centralized internet as we know it redundant; and Tom Simonite of WIRED, who comments on both the promise and also the pitfalls of decentralization.

Chris and Serge are back from FOSDEM and CopyleftConf. Chris has a grant to work on an exciting new ActivityPub application and the dynamic duo talk about recursive compilation and Lisp without parentheis.

Practicing minimalism with your possessions has been a trend for the past decade, and it can be a worthy practice, as long as you use it as a means to greater efficacy outside your personal domain, rather than just an end in itself.

But there’s arguably a minimalism practice that’s even more effective in achieving that greater efficacy: digital minimalism.

My guest has written the definitive guide to the philosophy and tactics behind digital minimalism. His name is Cal Newport and this is his third visit to the AoM Podcast. We’ve had him on the show previously to discuss his books So Good They Can’t Ignore You and Deep Work. Today, we discuss his latest book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.

We begin our conversation discussing why digital tech feels so addicting, why Steve Jobs didn’t originally intend for the iPhone to become something we check all the time, and why the common tips for reducing your smartphone use don’t work and you need to implement more nuclear solutions instead. We then discuss the surprising lesson the Amish can teach you about being intentional about technology, how cleaning up your digital life is like decluttering your house, and why he recommends a 30-day tech fast to evaluate what tech you want to let back into your life. Cal then makes an argument for why you should see social media like training wheels for navigating the web, how to take those wheels off, and why you should own your own domain address. We end our conversation exploring what you should do in the free time you open up once your digital distractions are tamed, and the advanced techniques you can use to take the practice of digital minimalism to the next level.

I think you’ll find this a tremendously interesting and important show.

Show Highlights:
The problems people are having with their smartphone and social media habits
How connecting online isn’t the same as connecting in “real” life
Steve Jobs original vision for the iPhone
When, why, and how did apps become so irresistible?
Why the “like” button has changed the entire ecosystem of the internet (and why to stop!)
How your brain reacts to social media feedback (and how it’s been hijacked)
Why modest tips and “hacks” for curbing our phone use don’t work all that well
Why Cal advocates for a bigger fix
Cal’s 3 principles of “digital minimalism”
What Thoreau’s experiment at Walden Pond can teach us about clutter (even of the digital variety)
Why the costs of social media need to be weighed against their benefits
Optimizing social media so that it works for you rather than against you
What the Amish can teach us about adopting new technologies
Decluttering your digital life
What 30 days off of modern internet tech does for your life and brain
Reintroducing social media into your life after decluttering
Why you should keep strict rules regarding your social media and phone use
The value of strenuous, active leisure time
Advanced tactics for implementing digital minimalism

W. Kamau Bell, the host of CNN’s "United Shades of America,â describes his show as giving people a âmicrophoneâ and âpublic square to tell their version of the story.â Putting it plainly, he’s said his greatest gift as a communicator is in knowing, â… how to shut the f*ck up and let people talk.â Kamau is a gifted stand up comedian who delivers his comedy through a socio-political lens. In this episode of Clear+Vivid, Alan Alda asks W. Kamau Bell about his approach to comedy and how it’s possible to talk with someone who you genuinely disagree with, like a member of the KKK â and still find relatable qualities, even humor. Before they finish, Kamau surprises Alan with a guest of his own!

When you post something on the web, it should belong to you, and not a corporation.

The Internet was originally a peer to peer decentralized network of networks connecting diverse nodes. The ability to move and share content over the Internet evolved through file transfer to gopher to hypertext transport protocol and html, i.e. the World Wide Web. The early web co-evolved with zine culture, with many small independent content sites appearing, and experiments in content sharing using technologies like trackback, pingback, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

Over the last decade or so, the Internet has exploded. All media has become digital; the Internet has become the platform of choice for distribution. With the rise of social networks, smaller content nodes were swept into sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, blogs fell aside, and content sharing was mediated by evolving new platforms created and managed by corporations supported primarily by advertising. Content producers and consumers became “the product,” sold to advertisers in an ecosystem that mixes traditional and social media sources. The Internet has is somewhat less decentralized, replaced to an extent by managed broadband and cellular networks.